Word for Word???

The grasp of language for international advertising campaigns is crucial. However, even the largest companies have a hard time with the translations. For example, here's a look at how shrewd American business people translate their slogans into foreign languages:

Coors put its slogan, "Turn it loose," into Spanish, where it was read as "Suffer from Diarrhea."

The Chevy Nova never sold well in Spanish speaking countries. "No va" means "it doesn't go" in Spanish. After the company figured out why it wasn't selling any cars, it renamed the car in its Spanish markets to the "Caribe ."

When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave."

Also in Chinese, the Kentucky Fried Chicken slogan "Finger-Lickin' Good" came out as "Eat Your Fingers Off."

A hair products company, Clairol, introduced the "Mist Stick," a curling iron, into Germany only to find out that mist is slang for manure. Not too many people had use for the manure stick.

An American T-shirt makcr in Miami printcd shirts for the Spanish market that promoted the Pope's visit. Instead of the desired "I Saw the Pope" in Spanish, the shirts proclaimed, "I Saw the Potato."

When Parker Pen marketcd a ballpoint pen in Mexico, its ads were supposed to say "It won't leak in your pocket and embarrass you." Instead, the ads said that "It won't leak in your pocket and make you pregnant."

Compiled from American Demographics magazine as seen in The State of Business from Georgia State University's College of Business Administration.